Finbar Brannigan

Finbar Brannigan (1900-) was Taoiseach of Ireland from 1 July 1961, succeeding Fintan O'Dowd; he was also leader of Fianna Fail from 1957, succeeding Colm O'Farrell. Brannigan was one of the longest-serving Taoisigh, serving over four consecutive terms. During his terms in office, he championed the rights of women and immigrants, and he controversially made Ireland an officially secular country, angering conservative Catholics.

Biography
Finbar Brannigan was born in Mullingar, County Westmeath, Ireland in 1900. He hailed from a family of farmers, and he fought in the Irish War of Independence and the Irish Civil War for the anti-treaty Irish Republican Army. Brannigan came to work as a construction company manager, and he was elected to the Dail Eireann in 1950 as a Fianna Fail member. Brannigan had a late start as a TD, but he soon maneuvered his way to the top of the party leadership due to his economic genius. Brannigan drew up plans for the economic revitalization of Ireland, which included the popular policy of reducing taxation. In 1957, after Colm O'Farrell was defeated by the Fine Gael-Sinn Fein coalition, Brannigan became the new Fianna Fail leader, and he sought to pursue an anti-austerity objective, unlike his predecessor, who implemented the austerity reforms in the first place. Brannigan played on popular discontent with Fine Gael's higher taxes to eliminate their chances of winning the 1961 election, and he won the election with a clear majority in every county.

As Taoiseach, Brannigan inherited a country that had adopted many progressive reforms under his predecessor, Fintan O'Dowd. Brannigan kept the economy stable by slashing military spending while also keeping administration, education, and social spending at sustainable levels. Later in 1961, the economy briefly plunged, leading to Brannigan temporarily decreasing administrative spending. He had a flair for economic pragmatism, adjusting spending whenever the economy changed. Brannigan was also a political pragmatist, refusing to enter into an alliance with the United Kingdom both because of his support for Irish republicanism and his opposition to entry into the Cold War.

In 1965, Brannigan was re-elected with a comfortable 53.97% share of the vote, and, in 1967, he decided to take advantage of a scandal involving Fine Gael's fascist paramilitary wing to gain an even larger majority. Indeed, he won 60.24% of the vote in the 1967 election, and he went on to liberalize immigration laws, to legally establish gender equality, and to implement affirmative action programs. In 1972, he guided Fianna Fail to yet another electoral success, winning 61.72% of the vote in his fourth consecutive electoral victory.